Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the Greek word translated as “cross” in the New Testament, stauros, actually means “upright stake” or, in their words, “torture stake.” They claim that Jesus was nailed through both wrists on a large vertical stake without a crossbeam (pictured right). They even go so far as to claim, “True Christians do not use the cross in worship.”[0]

Over the years I have had my fair share of encounters with anti-Catholics. Their arguments against the faith are pretty predictable - one of the most popular being that the Pope is the Antichrist. One of the typical “gotcha” proofs of this claim is the Papal symbol of the upside down or inverted cross, which the anti-Catholic confidently asserts as being satanic. Because of this, they reason, the Pope is himself in league with Satan.

Islam teaches that Jesus was not crucified. Instead, Muslims believe he was raised bodily to heaven by God. You may encounter this objection to the Christian faith when you engage in discussions with Muslim apologists. This argument finds its roots in the Qur’an:

To the surprise of no one, on June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) struck down Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)—the section that defines marriage as being "only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife"—proclaiming it to be unconstitutional. California State...